Thursday, February 9, 2017
Gov. Phil Scott’s administration came out Thursday firmly against a marijuana legalization bill that has sparked interest in the House.
“We oppose this bill,” Vermont State Police Major Glenn Hall told the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning.
“We,” as it turns out, extends beyond the state police to the governor and his administration.
“We speak with one voice,” said Public Safety Commissioner Tom Anderson. “That’s what the governor stands for also.”
Hall's comments represent a shift from Scott's own. The newly elected Republican governor has not embraced legalization, but he hasn’t explicitly come out against it either.
Last week, Scott said, "I didn't say, 'Never.' I said, 'Not now,'" adding that he'd prefer legislators focus on economic issues. He also said that highway safety and protecting youths remain concerns.
Tags: Cannabeat , Glenn Hall , marijuana legalization , Maxine Grad , Phil Scott , Tom Anderson , Image , Web Only
That’s the gist of a bill unveiled Thursday that both the House and Senate will start considering Friday.
It comes in response to executive orders from President Donald Trump. The orders are so wide-ranging that Vermont officials don’t know what to anticipate.
“Vermont will not be complacent, nor will Vermont be complicit in this federal overreach,” said Attorney General T.J. Donovan.
Tags: Phil Scott , T.J. Donovan , Donald Trump , Don Turner , Heidi Scheuermann , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
“We’re not going to use local law enforcement or state law enforcement to carry out the president’s order on immigration,” said Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington). “There’s a worry that Vermont police would be asked to enforce immigration law,” he added.
The president’s executive order, currently lifted as it is contested in court, halted the inflow into the United States of refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. Such an order mostly involves federal agencies, but Vermont officials fear the feds could rope in local police agencies to enforce the immigration decree.
Sears said legislators are working with Gov. Phil Scott and Attorney General T.J. Donovan to craft the legislation, which emerged from a civil rights panel that Scott appointed last month.
Sears said his committee would start debating the still-being-written bill Thursday morning and the full Senate could vote next week. The House is also expected to act on the bill.
Sears said he’s not concerned that Vermont could face financial consequences if the president threatens federal funding because other states, including California, are working on similar efforts.
“Are they really going to say, ‘We’re going to pull all federal funding from California if you don’t do this?’” he said. “I think the states banding together have a certain amount of power.”
Tags: immigration , President Donald Trump , Vermont legislature , Dick Sears , Tim Ashe , Image , Web Only
For Scott, it served as the second legislative defeat of his proposed changes to state government in a week. But this time, lawmakers were quick to argue that they agree with parts of the governor’s plan — just not all the details.
Last week, another Senate committee and the full House voted to nix Scott’s plan to delay school budget votes while freezing spending plans at this year’s levels. Scott’s proposal served as the cornerstone of his budget address.
On Tuesday, the Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee voted down Scott’s executive order to fold Commerce and Labor into a new Agency of Economic Opportunity. Critics said it would be a mistake to put the agency that promotes business in charge of regulating labor laws.
Tags: Phil Scott , Kevin Mullin , Becca Balint , Labor Department , Commerce agency , Tim Ashe , Image , Web Only
Friday, February 3, 2017
One of those lawyers strongly denied that allegation during a session in Vermont Superior Court in St. Albans that went on for two and a half hours without resolution.
As the court was closing for the day, Judge Martin Maley ordered the proceeding to be continued. No date was immediately set.
McAllister, a former state senator, last month pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of prohibited acts and one felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct, which had been reduced from a sexual assault charge. Under the deal, he could have served up to seven years in prison, compared to a possible maximum life sentence on the original sexual assault charge.
Tags: Norm McAllister , Brooks McArthur , Heath McAllister , Image , Web Only
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Representatives remained mired in a nearly six-hour debate about recounting an election race, even though virtually no one expects the results to change, or offered solid proof of vote-counting error.
“The results could be the same. The results could be different. We don’t know,” argued Rep. Maida Townsend (D-South Burlington), chair of the House Government Operations Committee.
There were plenty of allegations to go around, however, as legislators accused each other of plotting election fraud and of partisan posturing.
When it was over, the House voted 76-59 along party lines to initiate a recount in the Orange County race.
House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) defended the lengthy debate. “It’s worth the investment of our time to make sure there is integrity to our election process,” she said afterward.
Tags: Vermont legislature , Bob Frenier , Susan Hatch Davis , 2016 election , Martin Luther King Jr. , Mitzi Johnson , Don Turner , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
The lopsided loss in the Senate Education Committee straw poll was made even worse for Scott because an ally, a Senate sponsor of the proposal, voted against the move.
Four Democrats on the committee readily said no. The two Republicans who joined were more reticent.
“Regrettably, no,” Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) said as he voted.
Then it was down to Sen. Kevin Mullin (R-Rutland), one of three sponsors of the Senate bill that supports Scott’s budget proposal.
“With even more regret, no,” he said.
Tags: Phil Scott , Rebecca Holcombe , Phil Baruth , Chris Bray , Joe Benning , Kevin Mullin , school budgets , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 30, 2017
His legal team, together with Attorney General T.J. Donovan, will also consider challenging Trump’s travel ban in court if they conclude that it’s unconstitutional. The temporary ban prohibits refugees, as well as citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, from entering the United States.
To further study whether the ban is unconstitutional or unlawful, the governor is creating a “Civil Rights and Criminal Justice Cabinet” that will include legislative leaders, members of Scott’s cabinet, the defender general and law enforcement leaders.
“We believe we need all hands on deck,” Scott said in an interview Monday evening. “This isn’t about trying to make a name for ourselves … it’s about trying to protect Vermonters and Americans alike.”
Tags: Phil Scott , Donald Trump , American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont , immigration ban , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 27, 2017
His calls for boosting early education, child care and higher education drew positive reviews. But his funding plan, which would raid the education fund to pay for those improvements, force local school boards to level-fund their budgets, and make public school employees pay more for health insurance, was seen as politically untenable. It didn’t help that Administration Secretary Susanne Young framed the plan as a non-negotiable “package” requiring urgent action by the legislature.
By Thursday, the objections were multiplying. And they went beyond policy choices, to areas like accuracy, feasibility, legality and even constitutionality. At day’s end, the plan’s supporters were furiously retrenching. Instead of advocating for passage, they pleaded for a modicum of consideration by the majority Democrat legislature.
“It’s incumbent on the majority to take the time to look at it. That’s all I’m hoping for at this point,” said Senate Minority Leader Dustin Degree (R-Franklin). “That’s the conversation we need to have, and I think the governor started that conversation pretty effectively.”
Tags: Phil Scott , Dustin Degree , Ann Cummings , Ginny Lyons , Barre-Montpelier Times Argus , Susanne Young , Mark Perrault , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Scott, in his first public appearance since unveiling the plan two days earlier, deflected all of the criticism and defended the plan as an audacious rethinking of Vermont’s education system.
“What I put on the table admittedly was bold, but I think that that’s what Vermonters want,” Scott said at a press conference where he touted a non-degree higher education program that would benefit from his proposal. “We find ourselves in fairly dire straits.”
Tags: Phil Scott , Vermont legislature , education funding , Kurt Wright , Vermont League of Cities and Towns , Image , Web Only